Gallery: Top 10 Canadian Space Shuttle Hits

NASA, The Gazette07.04.2011

Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Marc Garneau shows the cockpit of the shuttle simulator. On October 5, 1984 Garneau flew aboard the shuttle Challenger as part of its seven-member crew, becoming the first Canadian in space.

NASA
/ The Gazette

Canadarm in the shape of a 'V' during it's first flight in orbit, on the space shuttle's second mission - STS-2 - in November 1981.NASA
/ The Gazette

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield operates the Canadarm in space during STS-74 in November 1995. On the mission Hadfield flew as the first Canadian mission specialist, the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, and the only Canadian to ever board the Russian Space Station Mir.NASA
/ The Gazette

Canadarm grappling the first component (Zarya) of the International Space Station in 1998. The second component of the station, the U.S. module Unity is at bottom. It was the first assembly of the space station in orbit.NASA
/ The Gazette

Canadian Astronaut Julie Payette operates the Shuttle's Canadarm during STS-96 in 1999. The Montreal native became the first Canadian astronaut to board the space station.NASA
/ The Gazette

Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris Hadfield stands on the portable foot restraint (PFR) connected to Canadarm on Space Shuttle Endeavour during one of two spacewalks (also known as EVAs or extravehicular activities) of mission STS-100 in april 2011. U.S. During the 11-day flight, Hadfield performed two spacewalks, which made him the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float freely in space. In total, Hadfield spent 14 hours, 54 minutes outside, travelling 10 times around the world.NASA
/ The Gazette

A Canadian robotic handshake in space occurred on April 28, 2001 as Canadarm 2 (right) transferred its launch cradle to Endeavour's robotic arm, the Canadarm. Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris Hadfield, STS-100 mission specialist, was at the controls of Canadarm from the shuttle. He commanded Canadarm to grasp the Spacelab Pallet held by Canadarm2, operated from inside the space station's Destiny module by space station crew member member Susan Helms. Eighteen minutes later, the pallet, which had been used as a launch cradle for Canadarm2, two generations of Canadian space robotics came together high above British Columbia.NASA
/ The Gazette

View featuring a portion of thermal protection tiles on the space shuttle Discovery's underside and the Canadian-built remote manipulator system (RMS) robotic arm while docked to the International Space Station. Following the catastrophic 2003 disintegration of the shuttle Columbia upon re-entry because of damage to the thermal tiles, the MDA Corporation of Brampton, Ont. developed an extension to the Canadarm to perform on-orbit inspections of the shuttle's thermal protection system. Weighing 210 kilograms (excluding sensors), and nearly 15 metres long, the IBA is roughly the same dimensions as the Canadarm. This similarity allows the IBA to fit neatly on the starboard side of the shuttle, where a holding mechanism was originally designed to support a second arm. Once in orbit, the shuttle arm and the space station arm can pick up the IBA using grapple fixtures.NASA
/ The Gazette

Canadian astronaut Dave Williams conducted three spacewalks during one space shuttle mission in August 2007, the most by any of Canada's astronauts during one mission. Here he is pictured while anchored to the foot restraint on the Canadarm 2 during the mission's second session of extravehicular activity as construction and maintenance continued on the International Space Station. During the spacewalk, Williams and astronaut Rick Mastracchio (out of frame) removed a faulty control moment gyroscope (CMG-3) and installed a new CMG into the station's Z1 truss.NASA
/ The Gazette

The space shuttle's crew used the Canadarm to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, which ultimately provided some of the best and most illuminating images of the universe. But Hubble needed to be repaired five times over the years, and Canadarm and Canadarm 2 grappled the satellite. Astronauts did their repairs by standing on platforms attached to the ends of the arms.NASA
/ The Gazette

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